Psalm 48 is also, in a sense, a transition hymn, for it praises, not God alone, but both God and the city in which he dwells. Verse 2 praises Yahwe, and verse 3 the city:
Great is Yahwe and to be praised exceedingly
In the city of our God on his holy mountain.
Beautiful for situation, the joy of all the earth,
Is Mount Zion, on the Northern slope,
The city of the great King.
Then verses 4-8 record the city’s chief glory, that Yahwe has been in its midst, its mighty defender against its foes:
God is known in her palaces as a defense:
For lo, kings assembled;
They invaded her together;